In call center environments the accurate and timely evaluations of performance is important for servicing the customer and motivating service representatives. While this is generally true for all industries and services, customer service providers have a particular need for a comprehensive approach to agent evaluation and creating incentive systems to improve efficiencies, because each customer contact with an agent affects sales and more generally the goodwill of a business. Few call center management systems actually measure performance by utilizing attributes that translate directly from performance to incentives. Partly this is due to the difficulty of managing a process objectively where the achievement of objectives are often subjective (e.g., how many customers were satisfied or how communication resulted in later business, etc.). Consequently, a significant need exists for an approach to performance management that is suitable for motivating agents who provide customer service. Furthermore, the approach should be measurable in terms of call times, quality of conversation, and primary skill sets that are additionally achievable, reliable and cost effective.
The methods of the present invention focus on improving customer service representatives performance, as it relates to production and quality, thereby improving a business unit's results. This method has direct connection to an individual's performance expectations and provides for the opportunity to pay out incentive(s) on a regular and consistent basis to those individuals not typically compensated through commission-based incentives.